


Past

by Jen425



Series: If We Only Had The Time [2]
Category: Super Sentai Series, Tokusatsu, 快盗戦隊ルパンレンジャー VS 警察戦隊パトレンジャー | Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coming Out, Complicated Relationships, Developing Relationship, F/F, First Kiss, Flashbacks, Multi, Pre-Poly, Pre-Relationship, Secret Identities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22711786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Past: to or on the further side of.——•——“Hey, Shiho?” Umika asks, as they walk home. There’s no one on the streets around them, so Shiho stops, when she does. “There’s a reason I asked you out today.”“What?” Shiho responded. “Besides spending time with you?”Umika laughs, looking away, and is that blushing or just wishful thinking?“No,” she says. “I mean, yes, I love spending time with you, but… this was supposed to be a… date.”“A… a date?” Shiho stutters. No way could she really…
Relationships: Hayami Umika/Ichinose Shiho, Ichinose Shiho & Myoujin Tsukasa, Ichinose Shiho/Myoujin Tsukasa
Series: If We Only Had The Time [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626928
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Past

**Author's Note:**

> This part is the shortest but it’s also my favorite, so I hope you like it!
> 
> Making the Lupin 2.0s full characters is fun!

When Ichinose Shiho was a little girl, she met a girl with a unique sense of fashion and a shy smile and the sweetest heart. Her name was Hayami Umika and her favorite color was yellow and she wanted to be a fashion designer and she had no idea how strong she was, inside.

She’d immediately wanted to be the other girl’s friend, but she hadn’t done anything until—

_ “So what if she has her own sense of style?” _

She remembers being fifteen years old and realizing one day that she had fallen in love with her best friend, remembers even more distinctly the way Umika had shown her own strength by confessing first.

That she had no interest in guys, but she  _ loved _ Shiho.

So nervous, so strong.

But Shiho had always been their protector, and she hadn’t hesitated to push her out of the way of Zamigo Delma’s attack.

And now it’s two years later and Takao Noel says that she became a Phantom Thief and a hero both, to save her. She can’t believe it, at first, although she tells no one of Noel’s offer to return the favor and, perhaps, regain her love.

And then she talks to Tsukasa.

It suddenly makes sense…

She starts training as Lupin Yellow.

“I’m glad you agreed,” Noel says. Shiho shrugs.

“Tsukasa convinced me,” she admits. “She made me believe that Umika could become so much, so different… and yet not really change at all.”

Not for the reasons Shiho had loved her for, anyways.

Noel smiles, all light and mysterious, making a noncommittal sound of seeming agreement.

“I had a feeling she might,” he says. “Umika cared for her, deeply.”

Shiho could imagine why. And…

“So did Tsukasa,” she says. “I have a feeling you knew this.”

Noel’s face grows slightly more serious.

“I did,” he says. “I don’t think she does, though.”

Shiho just smiles.

“She does now,” she says. “If I hadn’t returned… I could imagine them. She told me so many stories.”

“Did she tell you about the incident with the de-aging?” Noel asks. Shiho laughs.

“Nope,” she says. “Please tell.”

  
  
  


…Fumika? Really?

  
  
  


“We shouldn’t repeat the mistakes our loved ones probably made,” Aya says, bluntly. “Tooma was incredibly good at closing up, if I wasn’t there.”

Shiho nods.

“Umika never liked talking about herself,” she says. “I can imagine it was harder without me to match her praise with my own.”

(That said, Umika had apparently become much stronger while she was… gone.)

She turns to Shori, then, who is silent for a long moment.

“I don’t think even I knew Kairi in a long time…” he says. “And you’re right. My name is Yano Shori. I’m here for my brother, Kairi. Kairi was…”

They all talk, about themselves and their loved ones, and it’s so different from the first time Shiho had done this, with Tsukasa. Because they don’t know each other or the ones they care about, so the spoken minutia changes.

About half an hour into this proper meet-and-greet, Noel arrives, and joins in with a lot of stories of their lost loved ones and the police and a way of avoiding any stories about himself.

“And who are you looking for?” Aya says. Noel freezes.

Oh this just got  _ interesting. _

“My friends, of course,” he says. “The same as all of you. And… and someone who matters a lot to my people. He was… family.”

(The adopted father takes longer to drag out of him, but Aya is very good at it. Shiho’s impressed, and the bond Aya and Noel are already forming goes embarrassingly unnoticed.)

From there, the conversation goes more into the relationships to their loved ones themselves. From how Aya and Tooma completed each other in a way that left the new future Lupin Blue wondering how Tooma had survived two years. Or how Shori’s relationship with his brother wasn’t nearly as smooth as Aya and Tooma or Shiho and Umika or even their loved ones and Noel.

And then Shiho finds herself on the opposite side of a familiar question.

“You love her,” Aya says. As Shori nods and says “I guess we’re all here for family - but two of you are here for partners.”

Shiho sees no reason to lie. They need each other, and she knows a bit more about them already.

“Yes, I love her,” she says. “More than life… but that’s why she lost me, in the first place.”

The others all just smile.

“You won’t hear anything from me, at least,” Shori offers. “I’m fairly certain I knew my brother was gay before he did.”

“He knows?” Noel asks. “That’s a surprise.”

Shori sighs.

“He came out during a fight and then we never talked about it,” he explains. “But we aren’t talking about that.”

Shiho freezes as Aya takes her hand.

“We’re here to save the people we love, Shiho,” she says. “Nothing is more important than that.”

  
  
  


Tsukasa invites her over the second time about seven months after Shiho was freed. And of course she says yes. It’s a bad idea - there is clear evidence that this doesn’t end well.

But she goes anyways, and…

How did she not see this, the first time she was here?

“Is this…” she says. Tsukasa blinks.

“Oh yeah,” she says. “Umika went back to win it for me. Then Lupin Yellow got me Porktato when she realized she got me the wrong one.”

Shiho smiles. That does sound like Umika.

“I did love this,” Shiho says, even knowing that Tsukasa knows this already. But that had been over two years ago.

And it’s not like being frozen had stopped her awareness of the flow of time, either - it was just easier to imagine her life had been on pause, adjust everything in her head and even jokingly call herself 18 and 20, whichever sounds better. Do so many little things to make life make  _ sense _ .

“Then it’s yours,” Tsukasa says, sitting on the couch opposite to her. “By the way, how are you doing?”

Shiho blinks. Shocked back into the present moment and taking another to process Tsukasa’s question.

“Oh, with the move?” She asks. “It’s… still going good, has all month. It’s almost  _ easier _ , now. Than it was. You know why I moved out, so now my parents aren’t looking at me like I’m a ghost, anymore.”

“You moved in with Tooma’s fiance and Kairi’s brother,” Tsukasa asks. “So they understand.”

Shiho nods, forcing herself not to flinch or blink or otherwise show her secrets or how much she doesn’t want to keep them from the older woman.

They understand more than she can say.

“They understand what I’m going through,” she says. “Especially Aya. But… I think you know me better than them, really. I think you might know me best.”

Tsukasa blinks.

“Oh?” She asks. Shiho can’t help but smile at her slightly confused expression.

“You wanted to get to know me from the day we met,” she says. “Even when it was supposed to be about Umika. You keep checking in on me and helping me without hovering, and I just… feel like I can talk to you.”

Tsukasa smiles.

“I feel the same way,” she says. “I have since the day we met. You were someone I could trust.”

Shiho… definitely… does not… flinch.

  
  
  


…She leaves quickly after that, though.

  
  
  


Shiho is starting to think, just a bit, that Aya meeting Tsukasa is going to be a mistake. They’re two very different people, both in who they are in her life and in who they are as people, but it’s still… strange.

Aya laughs.

“I have to admit,” she says. “You tell some of these stories differently from Noel.”

Tsukasa blinks.

“Oh, that’s right,” she says. “He keeps in contact with you.”

Is that what Noel had told her? Before Shiho can press on that, however, Tsukasa’s hand goes to her ear.

“What?” She asks. “I’m right nearby!”

Her face is full of regret, as she gets up.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “But I really have to go.”

“It’s okay,” Shiho says.

“It was nice to meet you,” Aya says.

Tsukasa smiles.

“You too,” she says.

After they leave, Aya turns to her, with a smile.

“I can see why you like her,” she says. “I’m glad you have someone who you can talk to, outside of us.”

Shiho just sighs.

“Not everything,” she says. “Not what’s important.”

  
  
  


(How had Umika survived a year of this?)

  
  
  


Tsukasa is quiet for far longer than she should be, after Shiho offers the amusement park for their meeting place, on her upcoming day off.

“I… you were the friend,” she says, as if coming to an obvious realization. “Of course you were.”

“What?”

Tsukasa laughs, shaking her head.

“It’s nothing,” she says. “I was just… I’ve never told you about the first time I worked with just Umika, have I?”

Shiho shakes her head, and Tsukasa smiles.

“It wasn’t long after we got our transformation gear,” she says. “I’d been working through so many days off, but the amusement park had this challenge - a chance to win a large stuffed doll of Porktato or Fluffy Pan… but all they had left were couples tickets, and, of all timing, Umika was there, too…”

The story is an entertaining one, and they do end up agreeing to go…

Two things stick in Shiho’s head, though: Umika’s red emergency costume and the fact that Umika essentially went on a date with Tsukasa in the same place Shiho had gone with Umika on their first.

The second should hurt more than it does.

  
  
  


_ “Hey, Shiho?” Umika asks, as they walk home. There’s no one on the streets around them, so Shiho stops, when she does. “There’s a reason I asked you out today.” _

_ “What?” Shiho responded. “Besides spending time with you?” _

_ Umika laughs, looking away, and is that blushing or just wishful thinking? _

_ “No,” she says. “I mean, yes, I love spending time with you, but… this was supposed to be a… date.” _

_ “A… a date?” Shiho stutters. No way could she really… Umika bows, a bit too deep. _

_ “I’m sorry I made a mess of things,” she says. “I just… everyone else is talking about boys when the only person I’ve loved that much… is you.” _

_ “Oh,” Shiho says, so shocked that the next words aren’t entirely planned. “Me too.” _

  
  
  


Shiho can still remember Umika’s teasing about her habit of writing anti heroes more than traditional leads, so Phantom Thieves isn’t something she’s never considered before.

But as the drawing becomes more clear in her head, it also becomes more clear who she sees.

It’s not a one to one comparison - Blue is unmistakably Aya, in her own head, if not quite in design, and Red is no one in particular, bits of each Lupin she knows or knows of rolled into one, into their leader, who still somehow ended up  _ looking _ like a cross of Kairi and Noel. But Yellow…

Yellow is unmistakably Umika.

The next sketch makes Yellow into Red and Red into Black, gives them new personalities and backstories and far more altered faces.

(Her little secret lies in Red’s golden eyes.)

  
  
  


“What are you working on?” Aya asks, and Shiho immediately snaps her notebook shut. She’d found the stolen costume in Umika’s stuff and the niggling idea had swiftly grown into something far past her control.

“An idea,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s a good one, yet. But… it does have a name. ‘A Phantom Thief’s Heart’.”

“Oh,” Aya says, instantly understanding. Shiho sighs.

“They’re stealing a scattered collection, originally collected by a legendary thief,” she says. “Each one leads to a clue, and the final one… to something precious.”

She tries very hard not to think about how far away they still are from their own final piece.

It’s been nine months. She knows she’s failing.

  
  
  


“I’m working on a story,” Shiho says, sitting in the park, next to Tsukasa. By this point it’s just shy of a year since she was unfrozen , and Shiho and her team have almost found and  _ captured _ the most important treasure.

Tsukasa smiles.

“I’m excited,” she says. “I know you’re art is beautiful, already. What’s it about?”

Shiho opens her sketchbook, and three semi-familiar forms in primary colors burst from the page. The original idea, with not-Aya and Everyone-Else and…

“Phantom Thieves,” Tsukasa says, and then “…Umika.”

Shiho nods.

“The final colors are different,” she says. “Yellow will be Red, like the outfit you told me about from the amusement park, and Red will be Black, but… yes.”

Tsukasa runs her hand across the page.

“I still keep forgetting that she’s gone,” she says. “Like Lupin Yellow should jump into the fight, to take a Gangler’s Collection piece. Or that Bistro Jurer isn’t just an empty building owned by the Lupin Estate, now.”

Shiho takes Tsukasa’s roving hand, vaguely noting the way she catches her at not-Lupin Yellow’s lips. The clasped hands migrate between them. It’s so close and so right.

“But I’m trying to focus on the future, now,” Tsukasa says, and as they lock eyes, Shiho finds herself leaning in, Tsukasa matching her, and… kissing…

She pulls away.

(She doesn’t entirely want to.)

“I’m sorry,” she offers folding up Her notebook and placing it in her bag. “I have to go.”

  
  
  


She doesn’t quite remember who started the kiss.

She doesn’t think it matters.

  
  
  


They won’t see each other again until After.

  
  
  


“Are you okay?” Shori asks. “You’ve been off for a month, now.”

Shiho just shrugs, tying her mask in a meet bow behind her head.

“I’m fine,” she says. “We have our target, though, don’t we?”

“We do,” Aya replies. There’s hope and excitement and worry in the air.

If everything goes well…

  
  
  


“Shiho,” Umika whispers, clutching her close even as they lock gazes. “You’re really here. I…”

She trails off, as if unsure how to continue. And so Shiho takes the lead, kissing her deeply.

“I love the person you’ve become,” she murmurs. “I hope you feel the same.”

Umika laughs, but there are tears in her eyes. Shiho doubts she’s any better.

“Me too,” she says. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita or, for just Toku, check out @dancingqueen-mai


End file.
